Middie Lines

[TheKOB]

As a coach, how do you arrange your middie lines in terms of talent? The two options are making the 1st line the best 3 middies, the 2nd the next best 3, and so on. Or, you could mix it up, either by getting cerebral about it and putting the three middies that form the most cohesive unit together, and having the best of these triads be the 1st line, or just having a above average middie, average, and below. There are benefits of each, but on paper I'd tend to like the last setup. I guess it's because the teams that I've helped out on (mainly the high schools in South Carolina) have had enough solid middies for one line, so it's either wear out your solid line, or play all 3 (or however many you have) and get smoked 2/3rds of the time. Also, the potential for team-building is obvious, with the latter option, with either three guys that play well together or a variety of experience levels playing together. The first would make the three even closer, where as the second might serve to have the more experienced help out the less experience, and perhaps help create team unity across experience and age(?) lines.

I'm not talking about man up or man down, those situations are obviously where you want your best defensive or offensive middies playing.

[spenny]

i generally try to make even lines, i do however have a man-up unit made of my best players, and will, if in trouble, insert the man up unit into the game during regular play

[shiftylax]

yeah i tend to do the spenny method. Though it seems like i rely on my man up team a bit much on offense. I sometimes use and O line and a D line and just adjust and sub on the fly to get personnel in at the right times. I don't like to have middie lines spread any farther than 2 solid units. a third line middie is a third line middie for a reason, you know?

[TheKOB]

Originally posted by shiftylax
yeah i tend to do the spenny method. Though it seems like i rely on my man up team a bit much on offense. I sometimes use and O line and a D line and just adjust and sub on the fly to get personnel in at the right times. I don't like to have middie lines spread any farther than 2 solid units. a third line middie is a third line middie for a reason, you know?

that's true...and the 4th line can get just downright stupid. I wouldn't mind having 3 solid lines and then the other two for blowouts (going in either direction). Also, while they might not be getting as much hands-on experience, they're (the 4th and the rest) are the ones I stand with during practice and explain stuff to. Ours are

1st: two seniors and a junior who used to play attack
2nd: two meathead hitters and their speedy pal...they play really well together.
3rd: our solid freshman line
4th and on: guys who don't seem to want it, and those that haven't had much experience.

It's rare (at least it was last year) that we'd have enough players for more than 3-4 lines. Also, if the better players don't show up or do something stupid (like miss practice, etc) the younger players (at least the ones that want it) might find themselves bumped up a line or two. Such is the tragedy of college club lacrosse.

[dclayton28]

we have 1 very good line and the next is just ok after that they suck horribly our man up team is our first line

[CTLaxer]

I believe last year we did it with a combination of seniority and skill level. Better older players got more time then younger kids. We happened to have a lot of kids quit though because of a change of coaching style shall we say so it gave our young guys a lot of playing time and experience. Unfortunately that's not really a clear answer to the question, but it's how we did it.

Our man up had all of our best guys though, likewise with man down

[xSURFERx]

man up all your best mids and rest even

[CoachK]

I realize this is an old thread, but last year we had an All-American middie, and someone that was nearly as good, but didn't try to carry the team as much. He just wasn't our spark, but he was a sophomore, and our All-American was a senior. I split them up on lines 1 and 2. What's the point of having your two best scorers on the field at the same time if they're both dodgers? Might as well make line 2 a big scoring threat. This years lines are getting tough to determine with all the good rookie middies, but on every line I set up (within the next week), there has to be a leader, even our defensive line of middies has to have a leader. If you're trying to build the best TEAM, you've got to figure out how to put your players in the best position to help the team. Line 1 doesn't have to outshine line 2 by a mile, hell this year, I actually think line 2 may end up being the more explosive offensive line for us. Every game and situation is different, so you've go to adjust as it goes. Last year in the championship, they tried to face guard our best middie, so I pulled a guy and put in our line 2 leader when we needed the momentum... Seemed to work, it was 17-9 us... Just know what your players bring to the table, and really sit down to figure out how they complement each other...

[coach b lax]

we use colors for lines red, white, blue, gold

gold is our best atheletes and scorers - all the marbles
red is usually #2 scoring mixed with breakers or clearing specialists
white is def middies and shut off or pounders mixed with a shooter
blue is a combo of the less experienced & the i dont work that hard group - i ll put in with a good lead or against their "blue" line